On the second leg of our bareboat charter, we left Saba Rock and headed to Cane Garden Bay on the other side of Tortola. Our crew enjoyed a simple breakfast in the anchorage. While we were eating, a guy in a dinghy pulled up and asked if we had garbage. For $5, he’ll take your garbage and they will even delivery ice for another fee! How cool is that!?
We had heard the snorkeling was fantastic at Monkey Point, so we planned to stop there on our way to Cane Garden Bay. The trek would be about 20 nm and we cruised around 2500 rpm this time. One note, we noticed that our fuel tanks were not using fuel evenly. Turns out the auto fuel tank switch was not turned on. Once we turned it on, they started to even out.
Snorkeling at Monkey Point
Monkey Point is about half way to Cane Garden Bay, so it’s an easy stop. We grabbed a mooring ball and jumped into the water. It was amazing how blue the water was here.
Unfortunately it was so windy that the water was murky and the only fish we saw were eating algae off of the boat. Since snorkeling was a bust, it was time for lunch! Left over pizza with salami and cheese.
Time to head to Cane Garden Bay
As I mentioned before, Ben set his alarm every day for 6:55am and got ready to snag a mooring ball on the BoatyBall app. Some days we got the last one (the earliest you can reserve them is 7am), but for Cane Bay we had our pick. He chose one close to the beach, but we still couldn’t swim to it.
For this leg of the trip, Ben captained the boat and Scott had hook duty. Once again, our crew nailed it on the first try and we were moored! What a beautiful anchorage.
Before we could play at Cane Garden Bay, we had to take care of our travel arrangements and take yet another covid-19 test. In order to get back into the USVI by boat, they required another test 5 days prior to arrival. We used a proctored test and it worked great with the boats Wi-Fi.
Dinner at Cane Garden Bay
After swimming and relaxing on the boat, it was time to head into town to grab some dinner. There is a small dinghy dock just off of Quito’s Gazebo that you can tie off to. This time, we remembered to grab a flash light!
Some restaurants were closed, as it was Monday (that’s common practice in the food and beverage industry). However, we were thrilled that we stumbled upon the Paradise Club Lounge!
We grabbed a table on the beach and ordered some drinks. The four of us were not expecting much as the place looks a bit like a shack. We were shocked when our food came – this was five star Michelin food!
The sunset was absolutely magical and we couldn’t have picked a better spot!
Exploring Cane Garden Bay the next day
Cane Garden Bay was too cute, to just leave and not explore. So our crew took the dinghy back into town for breakfast. While Paradise Club Lounge does offer breakfast, we wanted to explore some other options and support some other locals. We stumbled upon Rhymer’s and they did not disappoint!
It was a bit surreal to see our boat out in the anchorage while we were eating breakfast, considering we had been planning this trip for three years!
After breakfast, we decided to stretch our legs and walk down to the local distillery, Callwood Rum Distillery.
The Callwood Distillery is said to be 400 years old and makes some of the best rum in the islands. The building is the original building – tell me this isn’t haunted! It was so beautiful and cool!
I saw some stickers on the wall and asked if we could place ours on it. She said “of course!” – this was our first Boating Journey sticker we placed on our trip!
Cane Garden Bay was a very cool town and I would definitely go back. It would be nice to spend more time there and explore a few more things. As with all great things, this leg has to come to an end. Time to cast off to our next destination – Jost Van Dyke!
Tune in next week for our third leg of our bareboat charter as we visit Foxy’s and Soggy Dollar for Scott’s birthday. As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our channel (link below) and our blog for updates. As you may know, we are in the process of moving to Fort Lauderdale, FL so we have lots of boating coming our way! Follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney
Cheers, Scott and Ally
